on arrival in congress leaving us with unsecured borders and a broken legal situation for years to come. the chief of staff defended the white house choice to be ready to go it alone. >> we're doing exactly what the president said we would do last month in las vegas which is we're preparing. we're going to be ready. let's make sure it doesn't have to be proposed. let's make sure the group up there, the gang of eight, makes the good progress on these efforts as much as they say they want to. >> republicans on the hill are upping the ante and accusing the administration of political games man ship that will backfire. >> leaks don't happen in washington by accident. does the president really want a result or does he want another ka joel to beat up republicans. >> leaking this out that's it in the wrong direction. >> this is the president torpedoing his own plan and shows me he is really not serious. when they come out and say my way or the highway and if congress doesn't ask i will put it on the desk and say pass it

now, that's no way to get it done. >> with both parties agreeing now is the moment to make this reform happen, will congress be open to obama's backup if the efforts fall short? >> it is a threat from the white house by saying, hey, if you don't do it, the politics get really bad for you very quickly, so hurry up and get something done. >> say good morning to our president's day political power panel, contributor jonathan caphart and an opinion writer for the "washington post" and angela reid, principle of impact strategies and msnbc contributor susan dellpurseo. >> you come in on president a days. let's dive in and get to work talking about this leaked proposal that came out. angela, i want to start with you. we have the timeline here and if we look at it, the president was scheduled to go to las vegas on january 29th and give his first policy speech of the second administration but we see that on the 28th the bipartisan group of senators, they came out with

their plan trying to trump the president to seem ahead of him. is this a way in the chess match with the leaked reform bill getting out there a way for the president to get the ball back. >> i think if we stay a step back and think about what was in the leaked draft proposal, it is not that being showing. anyone listening to the state of the union address or anything else this administration has said about immigration, it is not a rouge surprise. we should be real about where we are and when you look at the senators bart of the bipartisan coalition, you think that mark on you rubio part of that would have been more delicate with his words. this isn't about a plan that should be dead on arrival. it is a draft bill. i said this yesterday also. the senate and the house have a responsibility to amend bills once they are introduced. this isn't even introduced yet sgr let's remind everybody as we talked about that bnds immigration group we can show everybody the faces and you bring up mark owe rubio who was quick to counter point what he

feels would be dead on arrival if this made it to congress. susan, take a listen to robert gibbs that appeared on the daily rundown and his reaction to how this is playing outs from the right. >> the president said all along that if congress won't act he will have his own plan. you remember not too long ago republicans who are saying the president hasn't led on this because he doesn't have his own plan. >> he has been criticized not a plan and there is a leaked plan that gets out and the criticism surmounts, moves on, so damned if you do, dammed if you don't. >> we knew he had the plan. you gave the timeline earlier. the fact he would drop this or thought it was a good idea to get in the mix right now with what's going on in the senate, because the legislation will come out of the senate. the house will respond to it. they were getting things done. everyone seemed especially after the state of the union to say the only thing that probably will get done is immigration, so i have no idea why this

administration decided to kind of get in there and decide to rumble with the senators right now. >> let me ask you about that. i want to tell everybody we'll have congresswoman joe garcia from south florida joining us in a second. marco rubio responded to this probably the most harshly saying it is dead on arrival. is this a way, though, and two points here. really was this a leak or is this a better way of smoking out who really is going to be an obstacle in this bipartisan group to what the president wants? >> well, i mean, it is a leak because the administration was working on this behind the scenes and someone decided to give it to "u.s.a. today" and "u.s.a. today" reported on it and now everyone is talking about. the thing here, thomas, is that republicans overall criticism is that the president doesn't lead, the president doesn't lead on the economy, the president doesn't lead on immigration. the president doesn't lead on gun control if you will. when the president does take action, action that he telegraphed verbally saying if

congress doesn't do something, i am going to step in and do something, they criticize him for taking the steps to jump into a position to lead on an issue that he cares about that a lot of other people care about. thomas, if the immigration panel in the senate falls flat as we have seen happen many times in congress, come up with gangs and try am to come up with plans and nothing happens. if the immigration gang falls flat, the president would be in a position to step in and say, here, here is the plan, republicans want to say to the president playing politics with this and i think the president is trying to get something done. >> jonathan, if he was going to lead, then you wouldn't leak the document, you would say here is my bill. >> i think the most important thing -- >> the fact it wouldn't come out of the administration if they weren't looking for some kind of fight right now, so that's where i think the fundamental problem is that i agree, the president hasn't shown a lot of leadership and if the panel, the gang of eight was failing, if the

president should step in with this plan, 100%. that is not where we are. again, i am not sure the strategy behind that. >> we'll talk more about immigration in a second with congressman gar see amplt i want to get the hagel holdup. the haggle over haggle and how much more lit reconciliation can i use? listen to how david gregory pressed john mccain over the weekend where he stands and where he feels about chuck hagel. take a listen. >> it is payback time for chuck hagg hagel, that's what this amounted to. >> of course not. we will have a vote when we get back and i am confident senator hagel will probably have the votes necessary. >> you're not a yes vote for your old friend? >> no. i don't believe he is qualified. i don't believe that we should hold up his nomination any further. >> i don't believe he is qualified. susan, when did john mccain lose complete and utter faith in his old buddy, the person that he would have nominated for defense secretary if john mccain had won back in 2000? >> one argues it happened while

he was running for election and didn't get the support and when hagel supported barack obama for president. that aside, the bigger problem is what happened in the senate. we now have left this nominee who will get confirmed weaker for t they should have allowed the president's choice to go through plain and simple unless they found some real reasons. they were using it as a smoke screen to get other information and the president puts together a team. when it comes to national security, we really shouldn't be playing these kind of games. >> jonathan, is he going to get the votes? that's the big question. >> when they did the closure vote on friday, he got 59 votes. it wasn't enough to stop the filibuster, but when you have the confirmation vote of a simple majority, he has the votes to be confirmed. >> all right. last i want to show everybody and the benghazi situation is still really stuck in the craw for a lot of people in washington, d.c., but david gregory and john mccain talking about that, just listen to the senator and how he responds.

>> many, many questions and we have had a massive coverup on the part -- >> a massive coverup of what? wait a minute. susan rice said -- >> do you care, david? do you care, david? >> i am asking, senator -- >> i am asking you do you care -- >> angela, how does the administration shore up the benghazi issue so that senators on the right and other people are elected leaders on the right feel they have been given enough information? >> well, here is the issue. chuck hagel's nomination has nothing to do with benghazi. if there were issues the senators have of benghazi it should have come up during senator kerrkerry's nomination process. it does not. the fact that chuck hagel's nomination process is about benghazi when first it was the issues he had with afghanistan and iraq and the positions that he has with israel, what is this about really? this is really about hyperpartisanship at its absolute worst to the detriment

of our national security. >> you think the hearing where john mccain gave a piggy back ride to john kerry where this should have come up as opposed to the hearing with john mccain and chuck haggle. >> i don't make it up but certainly yes. >> processing that. i want to thank everybody today for their time on this president's day. thanks so much. appreciate it. more on the white house's leaked immigration plan b. joining me is florida democratic congresswoman joe garcia, a member of the house hispanic caucus. we're talking about the leak has gotten such big reaction from the right and marco rubio, part of the senatorial immigration bipartisan eight. i want to show you what he said in his own words. take a listen. excuse me, this legislation is half baked and seriously flawed. it would actually make our immigration problems worse.

forgive me. i thought we had him in his own words there. when we say half baked, seriously flawed would make our problems worse, is this just a telling way that exposes marco rubio not willing to work in a bipartisan fashion at least from where the president's standpoint is? >> it is clear. what is clear here is that they simply don't want to work with the president. look, let's take a step back. the president's plan basically includes everything marco rubio wants to talk about except that has his name on it and obviously while the president gets tends to get more press than the junior senator from florida, the reality is that we want marco rubio, the new marco rubio, the involved marco rubio to continue down the path for immigration reform. i think what the president is saying, look, if you don't do it, i will do it, and he is stepping forward. we know he has been working on a plan. i read through the president's work, and i think it is a great

place and it is exactly where the senate has been talking about. >> sir, there are a lot of questions about how this leaked rough draft got put out there and whether it truly is a leak. david axelrod appeared on "morning joe" with this reaction. >> the mistake here was to disseminate it so widely within the administration it got leaked, and i am sure if they could, they would take that back. >> so the white house says really been offended by the fact that there have been leaks before, classified leaks, that they have taken umbrage with anybody pointing the fingers saying they did this on purpose. in this situation they're going to get fingers pointed at them saying they did this on purpose to smoke out the people like marco rubio who would be adamantly against anything in there and also potentially to poll americans once they get informed about what is in the rough draft to figure out. >> what exactly auto could it be against? in essence everything the senator has been talking about is in this plan.

you literally -- you are tough on the border. you have a pathway forward. we get this done. we fix immigration and have a verification system. it is all in there. the only thing that is in this plan that marco rubio doesn't like is obama. as a general rule, this is a plan to move forward. >> sir, quickly, though, i want to show everybody the comparison so we can see them side by side from what's coming from the white house and what's coming from the senate. from the white house the protective visa, eight years to citizenship, more border security funding, employer requirements. as we see from the senate side the big glaring thing that stands out to me is there is no timeline for citizenship, ties border security to citizenship, and do you think when we talk about border security that that should be a separate entity while we talk about 11 million people who are in this country currently hoping to become legal americans that that should not focus how to process those that already are here and work about border security in a different passion and through a different

piece of legislation? >> clearly that's where we have been and we have been working on this for a long time but this sort of shows you just how broken washington is. we have an immigration problem. it is beyond the 12 million here. we have a problem that we require the economy to be modern, to be adaptable, to have the high level skills of workers we need. we also need agriculture workers. we also need these folks to be part of our greater nation so they can pay their taxes and integrate into our country. what is clear is that all of those elements are here and in fact the president has been very good on border security. $18 billion is what we're spending. that's more than all other federal law enforcement combined. fbi, dea, god knows what other agency and yet we're spending more on the border. clearly we're spending so much because it is a broken immigration system. the first thing we need to secure our border and we need a visa system that works. what is clear here, the only thing different between the president's plan and marco rubio

is that one is drafted by the president and marco rubio's base is scared of president obama or doesn't want to do anything with the president. that's part and parcel with what's wrong with our broken immigration system. they asked the president to lead. he puts forward a plan. obviously he has been working on it for a long time. because it leaks suddenly marco rubio is against immigration reform. it is all in there. look, i want marco to stand that way. i think the work that senator schumer and bob menendez are doing on the senate side is key and hopefully they will continue on that path and senator rubio will focus in on his new found commitment for immigrants and help us move this forward. >> joe garcia, thanks for your time. i appreciate it. >> pleasure to be here. >> coming up, new york city mayor michael bloomberg's $2 million gamble on gun control. will the big bet on a special election in chicago playoff. and a tragic ending for

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a group of more than 850 mayors are releasing a new ad featuring hi dhadiya pendleton and her mom. >> congress is debating how to fix our gun laws. they can start with background checks for all gun sales. telecon gres to support common sense reforms so no more innocent children are killed. >> meanwhile, two super pacs throwing their support, a/k/a money behind candidates in favor

of gun control. joining me now is mark glaze, director of mayors against illegal guns. it is good to have you here and your coalition release the the ad featuring hadiya pendant he will son and saying more than 1,900 people collectively killed since newtown. nothing solid as we all know has come out of congress just yet. in your estimation how slowly are things supposed to move? for all of us should we expect things to be faster? >> well, of course i think we should expect things to be faster. the only way that will happen if the american people continue to do what they have been doing since newtown and before which is calling a member of congress and writing their member of congress and making sure they know this is a front burner issue for them and as long as 33 americans are muired with guns every day none of us is moving fast enough. >> we're seeing movement on the right, at least shifting in positions. senator john mccain was asked if he supports universal background checks this weekend on "meet the press." i want to play for everybody his answer.

>> senator coburn and senator mann shon and others working on a package i think most of us will be able to support. applaud their efforts and obviously we want to do everything we can to prevent gun from falling into the hands of people who are mentally unbalanced or criminals. >> is universal background checks really the most forward motion that we can expect out of this congress, that small piece of legislation that could lead the way for something more comprehensive? >> well, i would quibble with you a little bit on the premise which is that it is a small piece of legislation. this is something we have been trying to get done since the tucson shooting and beyond, tucson was an example of how flaws in the background check system can lead to complete mayhem and relatively easily fixed and in our view it is the single biggest thing you can do to get a handle on the gun problem in the country and i have believed that for a long time. it is not a complete solution. you will never stop all of the shootings. we're also supporting a reinstatement of the assault

weapons ban and a limit on rounds of ammunition magazines can carry. they're all part of the picture but i think the reason the focus is on background checks is this is something that has 90% public approval including 75 to 85% of nra members and gun owners. it is one of those things if you can't get that done, you really have to ask yourself whether congress is so fundamentally broken that we can't make progress on anything. >> let's talk about congress and who our elected officials are sitting in the seats because politico is reporting new york city mayor michael bloomberg's super pac is ready to put 2 million dollars into the race to replace jesse jackson junior in chicago. he is trying to head off democrats that have an a rating from the nra and we have mark kelly and his wife. they have a super pac they're trying to fund information and how politics plays such a big part in this. take a listen to mark on "meet the press." >> what we're going to do is support people running for

office and we're going to oppose others unwilling to do something on this issue. we're going to spend money in the races. >> is an ai from the nra going o be a scarlet letter. >> i don't want to tie it to any one factor but for a long time the nra is the on one in town and the strength was exaggerated. back in november they spent more than $100,000 on more than seven senate races and lost in six. when you are the only game in town members of congress have a real struggle doing what most of them want to do which is keep the streets safe. the nra's support will be one thing the mayor looks at and the folk that is work on the super pac. the most important thing to take away from this, it is not about whether you are a republican or democrat or rural or urban. your votes will be watched and if you take the vote 90% of the people want you to take that would while doing no damage to the second amendment, keep a lot more guns out of the wrong hands, will you have support you may not have had before and the opposite is also true.

>> mark, thank you so much. i appreciate your time. >> thank you, thomas. >> am coming up, her final interview, mindy mccready spoke with nbc news a month before taking her own life. her final words plus cruz control? senator ted cruz just six weeks into the first term in congress and already making waves even among members of his own party. does the gop need to hit the cruz control button? today's producer pick from our second producer kevin burn, an aerospace and defense executive losing his job after slapping a crying 2-year-old. apparently the man also used a racial slur against a kid and wait until you read exactly what he said and then our runner up pick, actor alec baldwin versus the photogs, this time the alleged race rant against a black photographer. check out the facebook page for details. my insurance rates are probably gonna double. but, dad, you've got... [ voice of dennis ] allstate.

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the country music world shocked over the apparent suicide of mindy mccready. many fellow singers sharing their grief on twitter. carrie underwood saying i grew up listening to mindy mccready, so sad for her family. from gretchen peters, i met her in the first flush of the early career. this is a hard business. sometimes success is poison. and chely wright tweeted i will pray for her children and hope that people are gentle with her memory. those that knew mccready say they was a measure cural talent whose life was torp meanted by terrible lows including previous suicide attempts. >> the demons that she hasn't beaten were there, and until she was going to face them, something was going to happen and everyone who knows her personally knew that. you talk about it. >> one of her last done interviews with was andrea canning and andrea joining me now. this is such a sad story when we

think about the life she led, only 37 years old. what were your impressions from when you got to speak with her? >> i have gotten to know her over the past couple of years. she was obviously very troubled and also sweet and she was a very loving mother and became sort of infamous or famous, however want to look at it when she went on the run with her son about a year-and-a-half ago and she fought so hard for him and so this was supposed to be her new start was living in this lake house in arkansas with her boyfriend. he is the father of her baby. he also took his life. that is open still because they haven't ruled it suicide, but it was believed to be a suicide. here she loses him and then now she takes her own life apparently and they had a nine month old baby together. that was her love were her children that make this is really sad. >> we have part of the interview with mindy you conducted last month. let's play part of that. >> police have not called you a suspect. do you feel like just the way that it came out and the story

that it was damaging in itself? >> i was hushting so bad and then they just did whatever they could to make it hurt even more. my life hasn't really ever made sense to me. i do know what i understand could of person i am. and i do know that i try to be as good a person as i can possibly be every day. >> very emotional will talking about david wilson's death and the fact that she was or could have still been considered a suspect. what are the details, the back story there? >> she felt the sheriff was on a wat witch hunt, she thought it was clear he killed himself and the sheriff said not so fast, i am not closing this investigation yet. there are more tests going on at the arkansas crime lab which is where her autopsy is going on right now as well. that just -- she just felt like that really kind of put her in a negative light when she felt

like i hadn't done anything wrong, why am i being dragged into this when they're not closing the case? >> already faced so much. >> and she was doing -- her friend said she was doing so much better after the interview, that she kind of turned a corner and then they took her children away and put two boys in foster care and all of her friends say that is probably what pushed her over the edge. >> so sad. andrea, nice to he so you. thank you. we're following breaking news that we need to pass along right now. just learning l.a. lakers long time owner jerry buss died at the age of 79. no word on a cause. several big names played under buss including kareem abdul-jabbar, magic johnson and shaquille o'neal. and covered in rich double-roasted peanuts. mmm. [ hero ] yummy. [ male announcer ] kellogg's crunchy nut. it's super delicious!

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the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf., and every day since, we've worked hard to keep it. today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy. we've shared what we've learned, so we can all produce energy more safely. bp's also committed to america. we support nearly two-hundred-fifty thousand jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger. ted cruz is quickly lining up criticism on both sides of the aisle. last week during the armed services committee vote on chuck hagel's nomination as defense secretary cruz suggested hagel may have cozy relationships with some of america's enemies.

>> we saw with his nomination something truly extraordinary which is the government of iran formally and publicly praising the nomination. in my view if chuck hagel is confirmed it will make military conflict in the next four years substantially more likely. >> joining me now is contributor and president of vote latino marisa cue more and also joining a former senior advise to her president bush. great to have you both here. maria therese, i want to start with you. there are two opinion pieces out today going hard at ted cruz. here is a small heart from raúl reyes saying he exemplifies the worst of republican obstructionalism and his extreme positions are at odds with latino voters. it is time the gop presses the cruz control button. is he hurting republican efforts to remake the party especially when they're trying to be bigger

tent on immigration reform and entice latino voters >> he absolutely is. i think raúl hit it on the head. not only is he against pathway for citizenship, he doesn't believe in the dream act. he also doesn't believe in the violence against women act. he voted against it. when you are trying to be the republican party of rebranding, trying to bring in not only a bigger tent for latinos and also for women, he is basically -- he is going in the opposite direction. what i really -- when you start looking at where he is from, he is from texas and texas, robert, if you can believe, he has 2.1 million unregistered latino voters. when you went to the polls, 25% of latino voters voted for cruz. actually, he got less than the last senator cornyn, so he will have a latino problem within texas if he keeps up his shenanigans >> one thing we see, robert, is the fact his shenanigans is drawing the attention of democrats and republicans

concerned he might be pushing it too far. take a look at john mccain's reaction to cruz's performance. >> he is an honorable man and served his country and no one on this committee at any time should impune his character or integrity. >> okay. so no one can impune his integrity unless you have been elected a lot to your seat apparently because as a freshman is that the biggest thing going against ted cruz. john mccain can take on hagel but not a freshman senator. >> i think it is bigger than that. senator cruz reminds me of the new kid on the block, the bull in the china closet. every new freshman member that comes into the senate that does not do their homework typically likes to shake things up and throw grenades out and reminds me a lot like senator santorum in terms of the restless energy if will you and history has proven to us that new senators often kind of temper their remarks, tend to be a little about it more conservative, lower case c, once they understand the roles and the procedures and also the respect

of the senate so i would suspect that once senator cruz tempers down a bit we'll see a different 2.06 version of him if you will in the next couple of months simply because republicans and democrats are trying to teach him in order to be effective here in washington, d.c. you need to be taken seriously and in order to be taken seriously you need to do your homework. >> when we look at what he voted on, no several times on violence against women act, aid for hurricane sandy victims, against the confirmation of john kerry as secretary of state and said i made promises to the people of texas i would come to washington to shake up the status quo and that is what i intend to do and it is what i have done in every way possible in the responsibilities that have been granted to me. so, maria therese, do you think we're seeing the best of so far as a freshman senator this is what he has gone to do, it is basically to stand in the way of any type of progress? >> i think what robert said earlier is true.

i think i would take -- it is not very often the republican party comes out so publicly against one of their own, especially a junior senator who they're hoping to groom because in large part because he is latino and he is from texas. so what i would encourage him to do is basically get his feet wet, learn a little more before he is outside so publicly. what he is going to do is burn bridges within the republican party and that's not going to be good for him when he runs for re-election. >> are there big hopes, robert, for cruz within the republican brand itself? >> i think there are. it is an open secret the republicans have a latino problem, they have a brown people problem so he is bilingual, from texas, good looking, there is a lot of things on paper one could make the argument, not good looking from a physical standpoint, i want to clarify that and from a reliability standpoint one can make the argument he is a very attractive candidate. let me go back for a second. he is a united states senator elected from texas. he deserves the right constitutionally to be able to speak up and vote against the issues that are important to him. so even though we can disagree with his positions, he has the right in texas reaffirmed that

right by sending him to washington, d.c. we can question whether or not why he voted against something or not, but that is his right constitutionally. >> and physical attractiveness is not bad for elected leaders, you know. maria therese and former advi r adviser, and my thanks to both of you. nearly ten years since the u.s. invaded iraq and there will be a documentary details how faulty intelligence paved the way for war. it is based take a look. >> by the end of 2002 the u.s. military is headed to the gulf. congress is on board as are british prime minister tony blair and most of the mainstream media. a new u.n. resolution forced iraq to submit to tough new arms inspections. president bush is growing

impatient. the defense department tells him if he is going to war he has to do it before the blistering desert summer. >> we were moved along the path of getting a good inspection going that would probably come to fruition one way or the other but once you start military forces flowing to the extent that we did for iraq, it is hard to pull them back. >> hubris hosted by rachel md&a o . oscar pistorius back in court tomorrow net death of his girlfriend model reeva steenkamp who was killed in his house last thursday. all of this happening as investigators cite new evidence allegedly found in the home including a bloody cricket bat and banned steroids. michelle kosinski is in pretoria with the latest on this.

explain the discovery of the new evidence and how does it change the police investigation against oscar pistorius? >> this is all, yeah, all coming out in the press right now. over the past two days it has been absolutely full of details. they're now quoting unnamed police sources about what allegedly happened inside pistorius' home early valentine's day morning. they're saying things like police are specifically testing pistorius's blood for steroids and they may have found some kind of banned substance in his home and this cricket bat is a key piece of evidence because they claim steenkamp's skull was crushed and they believe steenkamp was first shot in the bedroom and three more times through a bathroom door. there are also interviews with two people identified as close friends of pistorius' and they both claim that he called them before 4 a.m. that morning saying that he had accidently shot reeva. one of them says she rushed over to see pistorius carrying a

gravely wounded but still breathing steenkamp down the stairs and they both tried to save her life. police did say that pistorius did not call paramedics. so now tomorrow he is going to be in court for this bond hearing and a number of legal experts here say that they feel at least there is a good chance that he will be released. thomas. >> michelle, thanks so much. coming up, judd dread, why some democrats are concerned about a possible senate run by actress ashley judd. is she close to making a decision on whether to throw her hat or her name into the hat? [ male announcer ] any technology not moving forward is moving backward. [ engine turns over, tires squeal ] and you'll find advanced safety technology like an available heads-up display on the 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back.

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historically black college in the nation and among alumni martin luther king junior, spike lee, samuel jackson, and former presidential candidate herman cain. the institution that became mor house college was founded on february 8, 1867. ashley judd remains all the buzz and not for her acting or activism. the kentucky native is taking polls to see how bl she auto would do in a home state senate run against mitch mcconnell, a possibility making some democrats on the national stage salivate with happiness. even the "new york times" says that bourbon country movers and shakers are not ruling out this possibility. the high profile actress and activist is also causing a little bit of concern. james carol is the washington bureau chief of the louisville courier journal and joins me. good to have you with me. the kentucky congressman john yarmouth said to a local station this morning that he says that

she didn't say it to me but apparently she is going to make a decision by derby which is an important time to set your clock by in kentucky. in the meantime roll call is reporting there is fear among the kentucky state democrats that she would throw her hat into the ring, so what are you hearing through your sources about the possibility of the timing? >> well, that's the thing. she is doing a lot of this sort of very quietly, out of sight, so we have to sort of pick up the pieces where we hear them. she has told some people in kentucky that she would make a decision by derby day and, you're right, that's probably the biggest day other than christmas in kentucky. so that's a big one. i should correct that actually of course march madness if the kentucky teams are -- >> yeah. >> she is talking to people. she is doing this in a very considerate and slow way and some people are sort of making jokes this is day 100 or around

day 100 of the kentucky senate race held hostage. the whole race is frozen on the democratic side until she makes a decision. there are democrats in kentucky worried that she is too liberal and that she could pull down other people on the ticket if she lost as well. other democrats are saying that they're talking to a lot of people around kentucky that say she sort of and she would do very well. again, that's what she is trying to figure out right now herself. >> james, let's talk about the concerns, the "new york times" says the scenario is a dream for conservatives because we see this famous actress and one with an obama following, radical hollywood liberal type going up against mcconnell, a mane the daily beast describes as one of the most disciplined and effective political strategists of oera. when we look at the brands what

is the likelihood of her winning ? >> there have been early polls which of course are about as worth what they're printed on the paper they're printed on. some polls, mcconnell's people have done a recent poll that showed him up 9 points. that would be encouraging. people the democrats would point out up nine points on somebody that i think the numbers were 49 to 40 against somebody who has not announced she is running for anything, hasn't raised money, hasn't run an ad, near total name recking on in i guess in kentucky and so again there is pluses and minuses on both sides, but if it comes down to purely an ideological battle, then the betting is that she would not prevail in kentucky but a lot of people are cautioning that a lot of these senate races, especially in an off year, they may come down to other factors. mcconnell himself is running for a sixth term. he has been here in washington since 1985 and some people even in the republican party are saying they want to see a change. >> certainly make for

interesting debates, that's for sure. james, nice to see you. thank you. >> thanks. >> coming up next, mark sanford's forgiveness tour. wait until you see governor's l. can he parlay his infidelity into a successful political strategy? plus, how senator marco rubio turned a small bottle of water into a campaign funds. the sidebar is next. [ female announcer ] today, jason is here to volunteer to help those in need. when a twinge of back pain surprises him. morning starts in high spirits,

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the commander in chief and tiger woods hit the links during a long weekend in florida where he played 18 holes with woods and others. white house officials raised hackles in the media for keeping the private ground closed to the

press, and they didn't give president much in the way of mulligans. a tweet from golf digest reporter said "we received word tiger held greenside machine one for birdie." according to an exclusive report from politico, hillary clinton signed with the harry walker agency. insiders expect her to make her the highest paid on the circuit. former south carolina governor has hey flew political ad in his bid for the congress. here's a small piece of that spot where he touches on the extramarital affair that got him ousted from office. >> i have experienced -- in their wake we can learn a lot about grace, a god of second chances, and be the better for it. >> who says it doesn't pay to be thirsty? marco rubio's reclaim america package has claimed $100 million from the get your marco water bottle. it's all a promotion. if that doesn't kwerchl your craving, this skipt from "snl"

might do the trick. just take a look. >> there it is. oh, my god. ah! that was so good. life-giving water. >> do you feel better now? >> i just want to put that back. that's good. i do not want it to be a distraction. so much better. >> go ahead and finish your speech. >> all right. thank you, seth. my parents emigrated here in pursuit -- now i have to pee. >> water drinking does have consequences like that. i'll see you back here at 2:00 p.m. fully hydrated. i'm filling in for tam ron hall. back at my regular time tomorrow. "now with alex wagner" is coming up for the next hour, and you're nursing a little bit of a cold, my friend. >> i'm fully hydrated, however, thomas. listen, a word to the rubio camp. if they want to make some real money on swag, i'm not a

scientist man t-shirts. do it. >> that would be good. >> i mean, i would wear one. >> a burgeoning way to make pac money. >> it is sassy. >> it is sassy. >> thanks, thomas. immigration plans are bordering on going nowhere. with differing paths emerging from reform, are we getting any closer? and the vp cards aren't being returned. is the republican party witnessing a mass exodus? we'll discuss the future of the gop when the new republic sam joins the panel. as controversy mounts against bob menendez, we'll take a look at the relationship between money, washington, and ethics. plus, john mccain and the "mass i coverup". we'll discuss all that when "now" starts in a mere 180 seconds. virtually all your important legal matters in just minutes. protect your family... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side.

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says. eight years to citizenship or just until we reach some kind of agreement on immigraon